


Four Men Out At The Pub

by MsJackofAllFandoms



Series: Five Songs, Five Ficlets [3]
Category: Queen (Band)
Genre: Bisexual Male Character, Coming Out, Gay Character, Gen, LGBTQ Character, LGBTQ Themes, Rated for swearing, references to casual sex, references to cross dressing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-03
Updated: 2020-10-03
Packaged: 2021-03-07 19:34:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,568
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26792965
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MsJackofAllFandoms/pseuds/MsJackofAllFandoms
Summary: Five Songs, Five Ficlets challenge.Fic #3:"Darling,” Freddie said, taking one of Brian’s hands between both of his, “We're amongst friends here. What is it?""Yeah come on!” Roger said, slapping the table, “This is some real band bonding shit going on right now. We’ve never done this before, not even when Deaky joined the band..”
Series: Five Songs, Five Ficlets [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1948186
Comments: 2
Kudos: 25





	Four Men Out At The Pub

**Author's Note:**

> _Five Songs, Five Ficlets._ I did this challenge in according to how I remembered the rules.  
> \- Put your music player on random  
> \- Write down the first five songs. No repeats of songs, no repeats of bands. Repeats of pairings are okay.  
> \- Assign each song a pairing (or gen) - You can use give each pairing a number then use a random number generator.  
> \- The ficlets don’t have to be based on the title, it can be based on the theme of the song or a lyric inside the song.
> 
> Fic #3:- Come Out, Come Out from The Wizard Of Oz OST.  
> Yes, I know. Cliche take on the lyrics.

They were all sat in a booth of a busy pub. The noise was enough to drown them out, yet not so loud they’d have to shout to each other to be heard. Also, it had alcohol, which Freddie felt like he’d need no matter which way this went. Which, was going well up until this point...

Freddie had stopped mid-speech and started fidgeting in his seat. He was looking at them, as if he couldn’t decide whether he wanted them to fill in the blanks or bulldoze over them with the words he was dying to say. Roger couldn’t take the antsiness anymore. He lent over the table between them and rested his hand on Freddie’s arm, hoping to calm the singer down.

"What is it, Freddie?"

Freddie blew out air through his cheeks and then, as if reinforced, stared them all down one by one. "I'm gay, darlings, and David isn't just a good friend he’s-" Freddie broke off again, unable to continue.

John, sitting beside Roger with Brian between them facing out into the pub, took pity on him. "He's your boyfriend."

"Yes. And I'm not sorry about it"

John looked at Freddie thoughtfully, "I don't think any of us were asking you to be. It’s fine, Freddie."

Freddie opened his mouth to reply, but, evidently couldn’t think of anything to say. Brian leant over and clasped his hand. "Thank you for telling us Freddie, that was very brave of you." he murmured. “And what John said goes for me too.”

Freddie looked to Roger, who had yet to say anything. He didn’t look angry or off put or anything, he just looked like he was considering him.

"Roger? Please say something."

Roger, spurred into action. "Come here you daft sod.” He stood up and marched to Freddie’s side of the table and pulled him into a crushing hug. Freddie immediately put his arms around Roger in turn and took comfort in the closeness. “Of course it’s fine. I thought you knew that I already knew." Roger whispered into his ear, whilst gently rubbing at his back comfortingly. 

Freddie reared back with wide eyes. "What!? How could you possibly know? I've been vigilant in keeping it a secret darling."

Roger let go of Freddie and sat comfortably, giving him a lazy smile. "I could make a few uncouth comments, Freddie, but in all honesty… Er” Roger’s smile faulted for a second, but he continued on, “I saw you. At the Guardian. I thought you saw me too."

Brain and John were watching them warily, as if at a high stakes tennis match, and turned to each other. Brian raised his eyebrows in question,  _ What’s the guardian? _

John shrugged in reply.  _ Fuck if I know.  _

"And what the fuck were you doing at the Guardian!?” Freddie asked, his hackles rising and ready to fly right off the handle. “Were you following me!?"

Roger shook his head, and his eyes flittered between Brian and John who looked like they were trying not to look so interested in the conversation going on right in front of them, and failing. "No… I was there… to, um… Well. " Roger shrugged his shoulders and raised his eyebrows at Freddie, hoping he’d catch his meaning.

"Oh," Said Freddie,  _ picking up _ his meaning.

That was followed by a surprised “Oh.” from John, and a pause and a longer “Ohhh” from Brian, followed by a thoughtful hum.

"So… yeah. Perfectly fine with me, Freddie." 

Freddie shifted to look at Roger properly and then looked at Brian and John, and then grinned. "Well fuck me! I did not see that one coming. That's taken the wind right out of my sails!"

Roger shrugged sheepishly. “Sorry."

Freddie waved him away, and patted him on the shoulder. "No don't be. But don't go back to the Guardian, dear, it's the seediest club this side of the Thames! You deserve better one night stands than the ones the usual brutes would offer you there.” Freddie looked up in thought for a second, before clicking his fingers and pointing. “You need to go to Coat Tails. There’s this rather charming man called Gustav-"

"Er!” John interrupted, “Should we go and let you plan, give you some space to talk maybe?" He pointed in the vicinity of the door, all ready to stand up and leave, his right hand out gesturing for Brian to follow. 

Freddie and Roger shared a devilish look, and then burst into giggles. The atmosphere that had clung around the table since they’d all sat down finally dissipated. "No!” Freddie said, hands gesturing for them to stay seated, “No don't be silly.” He turned to Roger with a wink, “We'll plan more later, darling. Unless…” he looked between Brian and John thoughtfully, “You two haven't got anything you want to share, have you?"

"Erm…" Brain said, and then his eyes went wide as if he hadn’t meant to.

"Brian!” Freddie exclaimed, Roger completely forgotten as the singer turned eagerly to the tall man on his left, clasping his hands in excitement. “Brian, oh my god."

John too was surprised by the sudden turn of events. "Brian!?"

Brain flapped his hands at them as if trying to get noisy children to quieten down, which wasn’t too far off from the reality when it came to Freddie and Roger most of the time. "No no no, hang on.” He rolled his eyes as he considered his words, “Not… not like you two. It's nothing. No. I- You know what, forget I said anything- In fact, I  _ didn’t _ say anything-"

This time it was Roger and John shooting confused looks at each other and having a silent conversation.  _ What the fuck? _

_ You could say that again _

_ Okay. What the fuck? _

"Darling,” Freddie said, taking one of Brian’s hands between both of his, “We're amongst friends here. What is it?"

"Yeah come on!” Roger said, slapping the table, “This is some real band bonding shit going on right now. We’ve never done this before, not even when Deaky joined the band..” 

Brian looked like he was considering it, and then shook his head again. "... No.” He gave another shake of his head. “It's different"

Freddie leaned in, still holding on Brian’s increasingly warm, somewhat sweaty hand. "In what way, darling? Is it something you think you need help for?” He didn’t let Brian reply before he continued, “Come on, it's alright, whatever it is, we will still love you, darling… you can whisper it to me if that would be better."

Brain picked up his glass, which seemed to set off a ripple effect as John took a few drinks of his drink, and Roger, who had to stretch across the table to get his, did the same. Freddie kept hold of Brian’s free hand 

Brain took a few gulps of his guinness and then deliberated with himself, nodding as he steeled himself to share his secret. He leant down to whisper into Freddie’s ear, slightly obscured by each other’s hair.

_ "I think I want to wear dresses.” _

Freddie just only heard the softly spoken words over the general din of the pub, but he did hear them. Brian immediately pulled back, and tried to reclaim his hand but Freddie wouldn’t let him; And looked straight down into his own glass, as if the dark liquid could offer him a sanctuary his three best friends couldn’t. 

"Oh darling!” He exclaimed, squeezing Brian’s hand in reassurance, “That's not that weird at all. I know some people, they know Zandra too, and she sorts them out with some beautiful pieces! We can go speak to her next Saturday!" 

Brian hummed in wary consideration, but then went from looking unsuredly into his own pint then suddenly looked up, eyebrows furrowed and looking a bit perturbed. “I didn’t say  _ weird _ , I said different…”

Freddie unclasped his hand and patted him, “I’m sorry, Brian, dear, I meant, it’s not that  _ different _ .”

Roger looked between Brian and Freddie, and obviously came to the right conclusion. “Oh. Well. Alright then. Yeah, that’s all fine Bri..” 

John mouthed over to Roger.  _ “What?” _

Roger, completely oblivious to being watched by Brian, mouthed back  _ “He wants to wear dresses” _ . He accompanied his over exaggerated miming with a helpful motion in the air signalling an hour-glass figure, complete with a frilly skirt. 

Brian groaned and took a few more gulps of his guinness.  _ With friends like these... _

Freddie drunk some of his own drink before zeroing in on John, looking quite alone and by himself on the opposite side of the booth. “Well that’s 3 of us, darling, anything you’d like to share?”

John shrugged, and looked between them with a rather neutral expression. “Sorry, I think I’m the token boring straight.”

Freddie smirked at him, “Pity, darling! Gustav has a friend that I think would just love to meet you.”

John smiled at Freddie rather indulgently. “He can meet me Freddie, but we won’t be going any further than shaking hands. Sorry to disappoint.”

Freddie smiled back warmly, “Deaky darling, you could never disappoint me.” He picked up his glass to finish off his drink, “Well,” he continued, smirking, “Besides insisting on wearing such horrible outfits for our shows. I mean honestly with an arse like yours… But besides that, never.”

John flipped him off and finished his own drink. Roger and Brian shared a shy smile over Freddie’s head

**Author's Note:**

> I uploaded early today because our internet's been going off and coming back on all day so far, and I didn't want to have to deal with faffing about using my phone. So, I thought I'd do it now whilst it's back on cos I don't know if it'll go off again and if so, for how long.


End file.
